


Book Ferrets

by esperink



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, M/M, Soulmates, title's a play on bookworms - get it?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:55:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28560909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esperink/pseuds/esperink
Summary: Virgil meets his soulmate but all he wanted to do was do his homework.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dr. Emile Picani, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dr. Emile Picani
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Book Ferrets

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be for the sanders sides soulmate september but like, i didn’t finish it on time, but I had already been working on it so I decided to finish it.
> 
> prompt, pairing: you have an animal that only you and your soulmate can see, virmile (could be read as romantic or platonic)
> 
> stuffs: soulmate au, anxiety about soulmates. this got kinda long

Virgil hadn’t ever really been a fan of rodents.

(“Actually,” Logan had said when Virgil had told him what his animal was, “ferrets are part of the weasel family.")

But he supposed he’d gotten used to the ferret that rested on his shoulders, over the years. That’s where it primarily stayed. It slept a lot, he noted.

He was glad that it didn’t otherwise have a physical body, because after four years, he’s sure his shoulders would be sore.

Still, when he turned twenty, he hadn’t really expected a ferret. A spider, maybe, or a cat. But a ferret? He barely knew what one was.

At least, since he had a Soulmate, he wasn’t the only one with an uncommon creature riding his shoulders. It meant that someone else did, too. But he’d yet to meet that person.

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to meet that person. It sounded too stressful, to meet someone you were supposed to spend the rest of your life with. What if he didn’t like them? What if they didn’t like him?

He sighed as he pulled on his backpack. He could panic later. He had a project to work on.

After making sure he had everything, he walked to the coffee table, setting his hand down. The purple outline of a ferret scampered up his arm, to its usual resting place.

Virgil set off, heading to the library.

He was about halfway there when his sleeping ferret shot up and jumped off of him. He stared, a little dumbfounded, as it scurried through the crowds of students.

“Wait!” Virgil exclaimed, starting to go after it. He chased after it, trying to keep up, or at least, trying to keep it in his sights.

This wasn’t really ideal. It was leading him away from the library.

They had finally gotten to a less busy area when he saw it. Another ferret, but this time in pink.

He stopped. Maybe he could just turn around and walk away. Maybe he could pretend that his ferret wasn’t approaching another ferret. He could go home and wait for it to come back. He could act as if he never had an animal leading him to his Soulmate. Maybe –

“Oh, Korra! There you are!”

Well, it was too late now.

Virgil could only watch as his ferret embraced the other, before looking up at the owner of the pink ferret.

“Ah,” assumed owner said. “Hello.”

Virgil opened his mouth to say something. To say what? He thought he was trying to greet this other person, to say something to avoid the awkward silence that hung in the air.

His feet had other ideas, though. Instead he turned around and ran.

His feet didn’t stop until he’d gotten to the library, at which point he looked around himself. His ferret had followed him, and it stood at his feet, looking up at him as if asking, Why’d you run?

“I don’t know,” he admitted in a murmur, holding in a sigh as he set down his things on one of the tables. He started making a plan to get started on his class project.

He returned to the library the next day, going straight to the table he had used yesterday. A nearby table was stacked with books, the person behind the books unseen but muttering, but other than that, the library was fairly empty.

He was knee-deep in his project when his ferret climbed down from his shoulders, onto the table. Virgil paused, hesitating, and watched the ferret as it moved across the table, jumping off. Virgil stood.

He finally looked at the other table. Oh. Pink ferret.

Speaking of the pink ferret, it seemed to be trying to get its own person’s attention, but the owner of the soul animal was saying “Not now, Korra.”

Virgil abruptly sat back down, not really planning on making noise, but his sudden movement knocked over a book he had been using. 

Eyes peeked over a pile of books. “Oh,” Virgil’s soulmate said. “Hi.”

Virgil was quiet a moment before replying “Hi” back.

They stared at each other for another few moments. Virgil’s phone started to ring so he answered it. He had never been so grateful for his brother to interrupt and ask him to come home, and he wasn’t going to tell Roman that. 

Virgil gathered his stuff and left without another word.

He returned to the library the next day, again. Simply just to work on his project. Not to see his Soulmate again, of course. Why would he want to do that?

The ferrets seemed to just hang out and spend time with each other. It was almost cute.

Virgil returned to the library the day after that as well, but he sat a little closer. Not at the same table as his Soulmate, but a seat away from the table. He wondered what he was working on. He wanted to ask.

The day Virgil actually sat at the same table as his Soulmate, he kept his head down. He could feel his Soulmate’s eyes on him, but he tried his best not to react to it. No, he should focus on his homework anyway.

And so they sat at the same table for a while. Neither of them really spoke, but they sat in companionable silence. After a while, it wasn’t so unbearable, Virgil decided.

Sometimes Virgil’s ferret would interact with his Soulmate. And sometimes the pink ferret interacted with Virgil. He also decided that that was nice. The pink ferret was different from his. More active, more pleasant. Not that he’d trade his ferret for anything. He’d gotten used to his own ferret over the years.

Virgil’s Soulmate broke the silence one day. “Did you name yours?” he asked.

“No,” Virgil admitted. He had never been sure what to name it, or if he should name it, or if he was even going to keep it. He remembered wondering if you could reject your Soul animal, when he’d first gotten it. 

His Soulmate only nodded in understanding. “Mine’s named Korra,” he said, like Virgil hadn’t heard him call the ferret that a few times already. He reached out his hand to his ferret, and the pink ferret nuzzled his hand, causing him to beam.

“I’ve never heard of that name.”

The Soulmate’s eyes lit up, like he was about to ramble about something he liked a lot. “You haven’t? It’s from a cartoon. Have you heard of Avatar the Last Airbender? The cartoon’s a sequel to that cartoon. It ended recently.”

There was already something endearing about him to Virgil.

The Soulmate cut himself off abruptly, as if he’d realized he was about to go on a tangent. “I’m Emile,” he said instead.

“Virgil.”

“Virgil,” Emile repeated his name, like he was committing it to memory. He smiled. “It’s nice to officially meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on tumblr: esperinkdraws


End file.
